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Smelling the Roses

Posted: Tuesday, Dec. 04, 2012

Photo by: Nathan Abplanalp Photography

Amanda Wilson is a student who has a passion for helping others and is now committed to helping herself. She enjoys spending time with her pup, Gia, being with family and friends and traveling. Contact Amanda here.

Wedding planning, fitness, pounds lost, pounds gained . . . is it bad that I don’t want to talk about any of it? The other day I was sitting outside enjoying the warm weather we’ve been having this season and looking at the trees, thinking how I’ve been in such overdrive lately that I haven’t had time to just “be."

As we deal with the everyday hustle and bustle it becomes so easy to get caught up in what all needs to be accomplished that the simple moments and joys of life fall to the wayside. Then if you are anything like me, it’s December and you’re pondering over what happened to the past two months.

“Instead of wondering when our next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” I happened upon this quote a few days ago. While I don’t consider myself a big promoter of inspirational mantras, when I read it I thought “hmm how about that! This is an extremely good point." It’s makes complete sense, but in general we rarely think about life in this way. I know I’m always itching for a vacation or getaway. While it would be great to have that needed vacation on a regular basis, just maybe taking a step back from marking boxes off of the checklist to exhale and enjoy what is, might be all the vacation we need.

While the chores, final exams, meetings, and planning will still all be there, the least I can do is take a minute or two daily to decompress and be content with the here and now. The thought of that alone puts me in a happier place. That being said, I’m off to a week of pausing to smell the roses.

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